The present invention relates to a disc brake, particularly for a utility or commercial vehicle.
A disc brake of this type is known, for example, from European Patent document EP 0 534 987 B1. The retaining clamp of this disc brake essentially has the purpose of forming an abutment for springs, in this case, leaf springs, which elastically brace the brake pads. The retaining clamp is detachable in order to ensure a fast mounting, as well as demounting, mainly of the brake pads. The latter takes place, for example, in order to permit access to the brake pads without any problems, which is necessary for a brake pad change.
The fact that the retaining clamp can be attached and removed by the use of simple devices also contributes to the above. For this purpose, the retaining clamp is, on one side, inserted into a recess of the caliper and is, on the other side, fixedly connected with the caliper, for example, by the use of screws, while bridging an insertion opening for the brake pads.
The holding device of the caliper for the retaining clamp is normally situated in an area adjacent to the closing plate and is also made during the casting of the caliper produced as a cast part.
However, for this purpose, measures are required which counteract a simple and economical production of the caliper. Thus, for forming the pocket-shaped holding device, an additional core is required, which is to be fitted onto the caliper core, which can naturally be implemented only by means of more manufacturing expenditures.
This circumstance also has special significance from a business management point of view because such disc brakes are produced in large piece numbers in serial production.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to further develop a disc brake of the above-mentioned type such that it has a simpler construction and can be produced and mounted in a more cost-effective manner.
This object is achieved by providing a disc brake, particularly for a commercial vehicle, having a caliper straddling a brake disc and which can be brought into an operative connection with brake pads and is axially displaceable relative to the brake disc, the caliper being fastened to a brake anchor plate. The disc brake has at least one closing plate, which closes the caliper particularly on one of the sides facing the brake disc, as well as having a detachable retaining clamp, which is stationary with respect to the caliper and on which springs are supported which act upon the outer edges of the brake pads. A holding device is provided in or on the closing plate, in which holding device the facing end of the retaining clamp rests while being held in the loading direction.
This type of disc brake is particularly characterized in that it can be produced and mounted more economically. Since a caliper-side holding device for the retaining clamp can be eliminated, the production of the caliper as a casting can be carried out more easily, mainly, because no additional core has to be inserted.
On the other hand, a corresponding holding device can be produced without any problems and additional working expenditures in or on the closing plate, the latter being produced from sheet metal as a punched bent part. Naturally, this not only results in a more cost-effective production but also in the avoidance of rejects, which can definitely occur during the casting-in of the holding device. Together with the simplification of the casting core, the casting process as a whole is therefore optimized.
Furthermore, by use of the invention, a tolerance range is achieved which is reduced with respect to the positioning precision of the retaining clamp, which tolerance range results in a more accurate fixing of the brake pads, particularly by the reduction of the spread of the prestressing of the leaf springs, which so far had been possible only by an additional machining.
Another production advantage is the reduction of the machining of the sealing surface of the brake anchor plate with respect to the closing plate, which contributes as much to a manufacturing-related optimization as the resulting saving of material.
According to an advantageous further development of the invention, it is provided that the form closure of the retaining clamp with the closing plate be achieved such that a holding device is provided in the closing plate into which the retaining clamp is inserted on an end side. The holding device may be constructed as a slot, which in its contour and dimensions, corresponds to those of the retaining clamp. In this case, the slot may be punched out in an open manner or be constructed as a pocket, which then completely encloses the retaining clamp in the inserted end area.
While, as a result of the pocket-shaped construction of the slot, a sufficient stability of the closing plate exists in this area, in the case of an open slot, it is achieved in that two mutually opposite or surrounding ribs are provided which extend in a bent manner from the surface of the closing plate otherwise in the longitudinal direction of the retaining clamp. Instead of stability-increasing ribs, beads or similar deformations may also be provided.
For stiffening the closing plate shaped from the sheet metal, a partially or completely surrounding rib forming the outer wall may be provided in the form of a bend.
This bend is also meaningful if, according to another aspect of the invention, for the form closure, it is shaped in the form of a lug with a wall bounding it on three sides, in which the retaining clamp rests. The fixing of the retaining clamp takes place by the wall bounding the lug, on the one side, and by the assigned leaf spring, on the other side.
In each case, the leaf spring can now be fixed by use of very simple manufacturing measures, that is, by use of a machining requiring few expenditures, specifically only by a corresponding shaping of the closing plate during the punching, for which only the punching tool has to have a corresponding design.
Additional advantageous developments of the invention are described and claimed herein.
Embodiments of the invention will be described in the following by means of the attached drawings.